


Silent Nightmares

by gdesertsand, livinganime14, TheVoidIsMyHome



Series: TherapyVerse [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Co-Written, Dadster, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, FGoD, Family, Fluff and Angst, Forced God Of Destruction Errortale Sans (Undertale), Gen, Goopdad, Goopster, Hurt/Comfort, Hyper Realistic Nightmares, Insanity, Manipulation, Mental Health Issues, Nightmare Gang as Family, Panic Attacks, Team as Family, Unreliable Narrator, by TheVoidIsMyHome and livinganime14, dadmare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28690440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gdesertsand/pseuds/gdesertsand, https://archiveofourown.org/users/livinganime14/pseuds/livinganime14, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVoidIsMyHome/pseuds/TheVoidIsMyHome
Summary: It was now a race against time for Nightmare and his gang to help their friend when dreams and realities became difficult to be differentiate for the forced destroyer, Error.They must stop the source before Error succumbed to an insanity with no way out.
Series: TherapyVerse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102970
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	Silent Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story written by [TheVoidIsMyHome](https://www.wattpad.com/user/TheVoidIsMyHome) , [livinganime14](https://www.wattpad.com/user/livinganime14), and I (though I am just the occasional idea generator)
> 
> Enjoy!

Error walks around confused, he didn’t remember being at Nightmare’s Castle. He could have accidentally teleported here, that made sense to himself. Walking he stumbled across Nightmare, he tripped on Nightmare’s tentacles but quickly moved away, and he started to Glitch from contact, too focused on willing himself to not crash, to initially catch what Nightmare said.

“-And that’s how I’ve come to realize you are **nothing** but a pathetic glitch.” Error blinks, looking up at Nightmare, surprise and shock crossing the black-boned skeleton’s face at Nightmare’s speech.

“W-WhAt?”

“Of course you weren’t listening.” Nightmare mutters harshly under his breath, sounding unsurprised. “What _could_ I hope to expect from an error like yourself?”

Error twitches, forbidden tears starting to well up at Nightmare’s cruel words, “N-NiGhTmArE, wHaT aRe YoU sAyInG?”

Nightmare raised a non-existent eyebrow at what Error was starting to say.

“I Th-tHOuGhT wE wErE-” Error mumbles loud enough for Nightmare to hear, slowly picking at his fingertips in order to unsuccessfully quell his nervousness.

  
“ **Friends** ? Is **that** what you seriously thought? No, I was only using you to further my own goals.” Nightmare gloated with glee, “Obviously, I’ve discovered what a waste of time and space you are. You’re not welcome in the Castle anymore, and I expect your room cleared out by the end of the week.”

The entire time Nightmare was talking, Error was trembling, slowly moving his hands up to his throat.

**I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t-**

  
Error doesn’t notice how badly his hands are glitching between white and black as the blue strings take over his vision. Nor does he notice as his eye sockets open. All he notices is Nightmare, standing over him in the Anti-Void.

“N-nIgHtMaRe! I d-DoN’t KnOw WhAt I d-DiD wRoNg, B-bUt PlEaSe! I-i’M s-S0rRy!” The last thing Error sees is Nightmare’s vicious grin, before even the goop monster is gone. Error continues trembling in his blindness, tears running down his cheekbones with reckless abandon as he mumbles ‘sorry’ over and over and over.

The tears were welling and falling down into the Anti-Void, pitifully laying there on his knees, crying and glitching from his anxious feelings. His gasping sob was echoing through the Anti-Void, he really was a Glitch? Not his friend? He thought he was doing his best, that Nightmare genuinely thought of him as his friend.

He shook, he couldn’t go back to Nightmare’s castle, he mustn’t! Nightmare would be livid! Angry!

Although, It was a shame, Horror would be so happy when he gave some chocolate to him, as well as Cross, Dust was content with talking with Error, sometimes trying to knit with him but failing and Killer? He’ll probably just be okay. Whatever Nightmare does is what Killer does..

Shaking away his thoughts, the voices were coming back, calling him a slowpoke, stupid, an idiot. He shouldn’t stay around, he needs to get on with his job.

With his shaking hands, he cast open a portal and left the void in it’s white and empty glory. His tears staining the ground and his face as he left.

For one moment, Error paused, Nightmare had said to collect his things from his bedroom, he almost forgot. Breathing deeply before continuing to walk on, he glimmered in a little hope of spending at least a little time with Nightmare’s Gang.

* * *

Nightmare heaved a sigh. It's been a long time since Error visited them. No matter how many times he demanded for the Destroyer to stay in the castle with the rest of the gang, all he would receive in return was a sad smile and an equally melancholic "no".

It pissed off Nightmare to no end.

It was clear that staying in the anti-void was not doing Error any good. The voices kept demanding for destruction and demeaning the destroyer in every way possible. Really, Error should just stay with them. Error might be immortal due to his fate curse but an eternal torture was not something Nightmare would wish to a kind monster like Error.

A wave of heavy negativity choked Nightmare out of his musings. It was too strong, he felt like he drank a hundred bottles of Blue's hardcore whiskey. The dizziness almost made him fall out of his chair.

(The Swap Sans spiked their punch one time the gang invited him in their parties)

Who could it be?

Killer and Dust were having a sparring session.

Horror and Cross were baking chocolate related desserts in the kitchen.

That leaves one monster that has free access in Nightmare's domain. Much more inside the castle itself.

Teleporting to the source of negativity, it led him inside Error's room and found the Destroyer packing up the little things that he owned in his room.

"What are you doing?"

Error whirled around so fast Nightmare feared the skull would be detached to the main body, but the scared look the destroyer gave him, told him nothing to the initial scare.

Why does Error look at him like he had betrayed the destroyer a thousand times.

"NiGhTmArE! i'M… i'M sOrRy! I'lL lEaVe SoOn! JuSt...JuSt…" the glitching was getting worse. The voice was being enveloped by static; it was making the words hard to understand.

"Error.. Error, shh. Calm down my friend."

But it was obvious that Error was not listening to Nightmare. The broken cries of ‘I’m sorry’ was the only thing that the king of negativity could understand.

What happened to Error? Did that stupid squid of a creator ran his mouth again? It couldn't be that though. Error learned by now not to listen to Ink's insults the longer they fought.

And Nightmare could not deny the obvious that Error was scared of _him._

"Error, please. I'm here. Your friend, Nightmare. You’re at the castle. No one is going to hurt you." He assured Error, as he slowly moved forward.

The error signs were covering the destroyer's sockets and did not see this. But Nightmare did not dare touch his friend. He just hoped that his voice would be enough to get Error out of the panic attack.

"YoU _hAtE_ mE."

Those were the last words Error muttered before the reboot started.

* * *

Nightmare quietly watched the form of the rebooting skeleton, his mind racing.

**Where did Error get an idea like this from?**

**Ink is out of the question as Error knows better than to believe him.**

**Dream is possible, but I know him well, and while Dream is many things, he isn’t cruel.**

**The voices are a strong contender, but this isn’t a case of ‘Somebody told Error, Nightmare hated him’, this is a case of ‘Error** **_believes_ ** **Nightmare hates him’.**

Nightmare sighs softly.

**Of course, it’s the one I’m not around to protect that struggles the most.**

A soft knock on the door pulls Nightmare out of his thoughts. He looks over at the door, seeing Horror and Cross peeking at the doorway.

“Is.. Error okay?” Cross quietly asks, Nightmare grimacing slightly as his thoughts return back to the issue at hand.

“He isn’t doing well, let’s put it that way.” Cross walks over, sitting beside Nightmare while Horror hovers by the doorway, awkward hesitation ever present.

“Is there something we can do to help?” Cross asks, Nightmare sighing softly.

“If you can stop Error from thinking I hate him, yeah. Other than that, I’m not sure, yet.” Cross hums softly, leaning on Nightmare.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, and help Error.” Nightmare only nods quietly, watching the still rebooting body of Error.

Horror finally joins the conversation by shambling over and sitting beside Error quietly. He stared at Error for a bit, his eye light wandering around.

“He’ll.. be fine.. right?” Horror releases his question into the air, Nightmare taking a moment.

**Physically, he’ll be about the same, but mentally? This could destroy the fragile trust that we worked so hard to build up.**

“I..” Nightmare starts, before pausing to think about his words, “I don’t want to lie to you guys, you both know that, but.. I honestly don’t know if Error is going to be okay.”

Horror and Cross looked at each other, they didn’t realize how bad this was the last time they spoke. They turned back to Nightmare to hear what else he had to say, and to be polite.

“He thinks I hate him, and whatever made him think that might extend to the rest of you guys if it’s given time, but I’m not sure what I did to cause this reaction.”

In a bit of appallment, Horror wondered to the last time he knew he heard Error and Nightmare talking to each other. They did seem as if nothing had happened, so why did Error feel like Nightmare hates him?

“And the last time I spoke to Error was in Outertale, we both had a great time. At least... I **thought** we both had a great time..” As Nightmare finished speaking before Killer and Dust found their way into Error’s room.

“How about asking someone who spent an extended period of time with Error?” Killer nonchalantly offers in the conversation.

Nightmare bites back the sarcastic reply he would have given, despite Killer being Emotionless, he knew it would hurt the trust in the relationship.

“Who could we safely go to that would know something about Error?” Nightmare asks, swallowing his pride for Error’s sake for the time being, and Killer shrugs.

“Blue.”

* * *

Nightmare sat beside Error, waiting for Cross and Killer to come back from their mission.

**If Blue really knows what’s going on, then why hasn’t he told someone?**

Nightmare chuckles softly to himself.

**His Star pals are too stupid, naive, or don’t care enough about Error. And his brother keeps him from freely engaging with AUs like ours.**

Nightmare studies Error down, his gaze narrowing in thought.

“Error’s reboot sure is taking a long time.” Nightmare mutters out his study, noting the very slight tensing of Error’s body immediately after his words.

“I know you’re awake, Error.” Error slowly opens his sockets, sending a cautious and fearful glance to Nightmare, who purposely relaxes his goopy appendages and keeps his gaze away from Error.

“Do YoU sTiLl WaNt Me To LeAvE tHe CaStLe AnD nEvEr CoNtAcT yOu AgAiN?” Nightmare schools his expression to be as neutral as possible, but inside anger is festering.

“No. That was never something I wanted.” Nightmare pauses as Error shifts, before continuing, “The last time we talked was Outertale. And like I said then, there is always a room for you here, if you want it.”

“No, We **JuSt** TaLkEd In ThE cAsTlE a FeW dAyS aGo,” Error furrowed his brow, shaking his head, Error blinked in surprise when he felt tears run down his cheeks as he spoke, “AnD yOu SaId I wAs A wAsTe Of SpAcE, a GlItCh wHo CaN dO nOtHiNg RiGhT, aNd ThAt YoU wErE oNlY uSiNg Me FoR yOuR oWn AgEnDa.”

Nightmare releases a soft noise at what Error told him, one of his appendages slowly and gently wiping away the tears that fell from Error’s sad eye sockets.

“So that’s what made you think I hated you..” Nightmare mutters softly, sighing. “I’m not sure what that was, but if I had to guess, you probably just had a nightmare.”

“No, It WaS tOo ReAl To Be ‘JuSt A nIgHtMaRe’.” A soft knock on the door alerts both skeletons to an arrival. Blue stands in the doorway, Cross just behind the small skeleton.

“You weren’t kidding, Cross.” Blue mumbles, sighing softly as he crosses the room and sits beside Error.

“Error, I spent a very long time with you in the Anti-Void, and something I noticed was that sometimes when you woke from a sleep, you behaved differently, as if reality was different for you.”

“A hyper realistic nightmare?” Nightmare thought out loud, Blue slowly nodding at the word.

“I suspect as much, Nightmare, sir.” One of his tentacles waves Blue off.

“No need for formalities, we’re all friends here.” Blue smiles gently, before that smile saddens upon focusing on Error again.

Error looked down and asked in a bit of confusion, “So YoU’rE tElLiNg Me ThAt YoU **wErEn’T** mAd At Me FoR kIdNaPpInG yOu?”

Blue gets comfortable, before responding, “Initially, yes, I was upset to be kidnapped, but then I learned more about you and your forced ‘job’, I couldn’t bring myself to hate you or be mad at you.”

Error fiddles with strings around his fingers, a very tense frown on his face, “AnD yOu **ArEn’T** jUsT uSiNg Me, AnD dOn’T tHiNk Of Me As A gLiTcH?”

Nightmare shakes his skull, gently smiling at nothing in particular, “I personally quite enjoy our late night discussions about the philosophy of light versus dark, our amiable friendship, and if I ever call you a glitch in a serious way, feel free to smack me, okay?”

Error looks at Nightmare in confusion and surprise. A faint bit of hope clung to the glitchy skeleton, before he simply nods in response, a wisp of a fond smile crossing his face making him straighten.

In seriousness, Nightmare focuses his eyelight between Error and Blue.

“However, we need to figure out who or what is causing these hyper realistic nightmares, or find some way for Error to be able to tell the difference between these false realities and real reality, or else we’ll keep having to sort out real from fake, and while this has been an experience, I’m not keen on repeating it.”

* * *

A soft rap-tap-tap echoes in the empty like space, a studying gaze following Error in each move he made.

**_He wasn’t supposed to be able to break free…_ **

The gaze shifts, now looking at the warning displayed on their device.

**_Oh well, I suppose this will make the game more interesting._ **

Chuckling at their thoughts, they continued to watch their reactions.

* * *

Error steps out of a portal and into an AU, the Bad ‘Sanses’ following behind him.

“We’re here to wipe out the AU--” Nightmare explained, “--and yes, you can play with your prey, but don’t let a single soul get away.”

The four nod at Nightmare’s order, splitting off in four directions.

Nightmare and Error remain where they initially dropped in, the two in a comfortable silence.

“DiD yOu EvEr ThInK tHiS wOuLd HaPpEn?” Error questions, his gaze on Nightmare’s tentacles, which are currently relaxed.

“Did I ever think what would happen?” Nightmare questioned, asking Error for more detail, “An AU destruction team-up? Or something else?”

Error thought for a moment, and then spoke what pieced together, “DiD yOu EvEr ThInK yOu’D tAkE iN lOsT sOuLs AnD gIvE tHeM a HoMe AnD a FaMiLy? Or WaS tHaT a SpUr Of ThE mOmEnT dEcIsIoN?”

“It’s complicated.” Nightmare hummed softly in thought after Error’s question, the glitchy one patiently waiting for the answer, “When I initially got started, I’m ashamed to admit, I was a far more ruthless leader. Killer can affirm what I’m saying, as he was the first I reached out to.”

“WhAt ChAnGeD?” Error mumbles softly, knowing Nightmare can hear.

“Cross.” Error looked at Nightmare and focused on his soft gaze. 

“Cross changed everything for me, especially once I gathered Dust and Horror. Cross repeatedly pushed for me to actually take care of the four of them.” Nightmare told Error with a smile, “He was plenty obedient, but he was also Determined, and refused to be treated as a pawn after what happened in his AU.”

“So I gradually shifted my goalpost. I was far more forgiving, and one day things snapped into perspective.” Error quietly listened, he knows better than to interrupt Nightmare while he reminisces.

“I believe we were raiding a Farmtale for Horror’s AU. Ink and Dream were there. Dust took a fatal wound and Cross wasn’t doing much better against Ink.” Nightmare recalled his memory, “I didn’t think much of it until I heard Cross cry out in pain and turned to see Ink breaking Cross’ leg.”

Error didn’t recall this, it must’ve been before Error met the rumored, cold as ice, King of Negativity.

“Not a thought ran through my head before I was standing over them, using a faster but far more dangerous teleport method with my goop to get us home as soon as possible so that neither of them would die. It was only after the fact, when I was far calmer and more coherent, that I realized what snapped into place that day was that I was afraid of losing my boys.”

He started to admire Nightmare’s story, listening quietly with a smile and sparkle in his eye lights.

“Prior to that event, I had the mentality that I could just go to another copy and get another Dust, Horror, or Killer if necessary. But Cross was in danger. And there was only one X-Tale. Only One Cross.” Nightmare chuckles nervously at the old realization, “It’s very sobering to realize that for Cross, death would have been permanent.”

Error nodded, that was true, meeting Cross, he was very different from all the other versions of sanses he’s met.

Nightmare paused again before explaining his realization, “Cross isn’t a human full of determination, he can’t just RELOAD and come back good as new. None of them can, but there is a difference between Dust, Horror, and Killer all having back-ups if things go wrong, and Cross, you, or even myself if things go wrong.”

“That event caused me to stop being so callous if my boys returned home badly injured after ‘failing’ a mission. After all, it was a success that they came home alive. That event caused me to stop thinking of them as expendable pawns not worth the time of day and made me realize just how much I care for them, and how badly I’d hurt if any of them died.”

Error hums softly, smiling, he replied to the story, “If YoU tHiNk HaRd AbOuT iT, iT cOuLd Be RoMaNtIc.”

Nightmare releases a belly laugh, shaking his head slightly, “Only if you, wrongly, assume I hold romantic feelings for Cross, Killer, Dust, or Horror. Don’t get me wrong, I love them dearly, just not that way. My love for them is more parental than anything else.”

Error stifles a laughter, making him giggle a little, and when he finished laughing he asked, “DoEs thAt mAkE yOu tHe moM Or tHE dAd?”

Nightmare’s laughter faded and thought hard, staring into nothing, if Nightmare was Error, he would no doubt crash and reboot. Error stood for a moment of silence, and when Nightmare hadn’t said anything he walked closer.

Waving a hand over Nightmare pulled Nightmare from his thoughts and pushed Error away, scaring him and causing him to squeak a glitched scream.

“Error?!” Nightmare yelled in confusion.

The said skeleton was already a few feet away already, in an offensive stance from what triggered his phobia. Silently watching Nightmare before registering it was Nightmare and lowering himself hesitantly.

Nightmare walked a few steps, apologizing, “I’m so sorry, Error! I didn’t mean to touch you!”

Error breathed a relieved sigh, “SoRry fOr.. SorRy FoR OVeRreAcTiNg, I shOuLdN’T HaVe dOne ThAt eIThEr.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Nightmare ordered nicely, taking the blame, “It was my fault, I let my thoughts take over and I hadn’t realized it was you I swatted away.”

“No, It’S mInE.” Error tried to take the blame again, “I sHoUlDn’T hAvE bOtHeReD yOu WiTh ThEsE sTuPiD qUeStIoNs, ThEy OnLy CaUsEd YoU tO lOwEr YoUr GuArD.”

“Error! Stop blaming yourself for things you can’t control!” Nightmare smacked himself in the face, with a small growl at the stubborn skeleton, “I did this on myself, you had no idea I’d react like that, so stop blaming yourself over nothing, you already have enough on your plate!”

Error stayed silent thinking of this, he sighs and nods, “Ok, NiGhTmArE..”

They stood for a moment before Nightmare spoke, “We should go before they do all the work.”

Error nods again, “YeAh, I dOn’T tHiNk FaTe WoUlD bE hApPy AbOuT tHaT.”

Nightmare nods back before running off, causing Error to follow. While running, Error moved his hands to his face and armed himself with his strings, moving fluidly to capture everything in his strings and making it a spider’s nest.

Noticing Error’s strings, he moved his tendrils around to feel for it and continued on his way, dusting other monsters without a word.

Error stopped running the moment he used a string to make himself zoom up into the Underground space, taking note to where Killer, Dust, Cross and Horror, he shot his strings to different places of the large yet small space. Avoiding the places where they were fighting so they could gain some LV themselves, he then tightened the strings which broke Monster souls into pieces.

Quickly he looked around if the Human was nearby, from outside he saw no one, they were probably inside somewhere or in a different area. Narrowly, he saw the human running from Horror, poor thing must’ve been spooked, they’ll also make good meat for Horror’s AU, a morbid thought had told him.

Error moved around his strings and manipulated them to capture their soul, they dodged quite a few times before getting trapped. Error brought himself over to Horror who stopped when he noticed the strings had captured the human.

“I’m ImPrEsSeD,” Error praised them, “It’S nOt EvErYdAy ThAt A hUmAn LiKe YoU wOuLd HaVe An ExPeRiEnCe To DoDgE sOmEtHiNg ThAt CaN’t ReAlLy Be SeEn.”

Their face was sweating, how many Sans look-alikes were here? They saw others killing the Monsters but with that broken skull one chasing them, they couldn’t reset. Even if they were Sans, he would never do that!

“HmM,” Error moved his strings so he could come closer to their face, “WhAt’S tHiS? aRe YoU tRyInG tO fInD aN eScApE rOuTe? YoU’rE fAcE lOoKs So **StRiNgEd AlOnG!** hAhA!”

Although the joke was funny for them they certainly weren’t in the mood to laugh, this was terrifying and they knew that the world they’re in, the world they play in, was going to disappear. Without a thought they just stood there, no idea what to do, despite their determination they had no idea what to do, no idea to.. **String along**.

“AwW,” Error mockingly cooed at them, “YoU aLrEaDy KnOw WhAt’S hApPeNiNg, I tHoUgHt A lItTlE fIgHt To ReMeMbEr MuFfEt WoUlD’vE bEeN fUn.”

Muffet.. The spider terrifies them, and this ability has now no doubt made them think of her. How do these look-alikes look so.. Alike yet so different?

The silence made Error know what the human was probably silently thinking, after a minute of silence, Error just sighed and gave the human a weird apology, “I’m SoRrY fOr ScArInG yOu, HoRrOr Is ToO, bUt... ThIs Is LiFe.”

Despite the fear the human was feeling they heard Error’s sorrows, it was like Asriel, but there was no option to Save.

In that small moment the human just quickly gave up and spoke up with understanding in their voice, “Bye.”

Error smiled softly and insanely, taking the soul, there was no goodbye. This was one of the very few AUs he’s talked to like this, but it was nice and gave him a guilty feeling of acceptance. He ripped the link to the body away and gave it to Horror wrapped with strings.

Horror looked at Error with a big smile, talking like that made him also feel a sudden melancholy and happy feeling, he could describe it as bittersweet as well. Horror walked closer to the body and took it, the nice Human would make a great meal, that was what the Human gave up when they said their last words in this body.

Summoning a gaster blaster to carry the soulless and dead human, Horror looked at Error again, this time Error was watching him put the body there.

He was a bit quiet, but he did his best to speak up, “Thanks.. What you said too.. I can understand what you meant.”

Error summons a gaster blaster as well and rides down to Horror’s level, he hesitantly pat Horror’s head and smiled, “YoUr Au Is VeRy TrAgIc, If I hAd KnOwN hOw’D iT eNd, I wOuLd HaVe DeStRoYeD iT bEfOrE yOu CoUlD hAvE sUfFeReD.”

It wasn’t what one should say but Horror was comforted by it, at least, his brother wouldn’t have had to suffer had Error known what Ink made out of Horror.

Horror grinned and Error quickly took his hand back, less than comfortable now.

Smiling back with an insane kind of look he asked, “ShOuLd We Go BaCk To WhAt We WeRe DoInG?”

Horror nods, whenever they help out they always get new things from the deleted AUs, especially food, New Home had seven corpses as respect. Although it made him queasy long before, food is food.

A rustle of branches made them alert, Horror threw a jagged and bloodied bone with no warning causing the person to yell out, “Ow!”

Error’s strings were about to grab them, but recognized the voice, making him lower his attack, “DuSt..?”

“... Yeah?!” The voice answered back after a few moments.

Error sighs, “PlEaSe DoN’t Do ThAt AgAiN, i CoUlD hAvE kIlLeD yOu If We DiDn’T rEcOgNiZe YoU.”

“Got it!” Dust yelled back, “Ouch!.. Won’t do that again!!”

“YoU bEtTeR!” Error yelled.

Horror snorted before running over to Dust, Error followed. Coming into view they saw that at least over 10 HP points were lost on Dust, hitting his arm hard, it wasn’t really a graze, but at least his arm was attached.

Looking at Dust’s arm, Horror looked at Dust with a mad pout and thwacked his head, “Be careful next time!”

“Shit! Sorry Horrorrrr!!” Dust whined, “Just gimme some food already!”

Horror flicked Dust’s head before looking through his pockets. Error heard candy wrappers which reminded him of chocolate, he should really get another stock of chocolate soon.

Grabbing the candy out, Horror gave Dust three, “You’re lucky I grabbed these candies!”

Dust rolled his eyes, “Glad you’re a sweet tooth too.”

Horror’s axe glistened as he raised it, Dust yelled out panicked apologies from the axe, “Ahhh! Sorry Horror! Don’t take away the food!”

He put down the axe and flicked Dust in the head again, “It wasn’t too hard to make you beg for candy.”

“I’m not a child.” Dust crossed his other arm.

“So no food?” Horror raised a non-existent brow.

Dust pouted for a few minutes before giving up for his needs, “Fine..”

Silent behind Horror, Error looked around in case someone tried to kill Dust (How ironic, Error had thought, but it can’t be helped that Dust picked it as a nickname). Looking at a few running monsters nearby, he grabbed their souls and shattered them, turning them into Monster Dust.

“HuRrY, wE nEeD tO gO fInD sOmE mOrE kIlL.” Error finally spoke, “I’m SuRe CrOsS, kIlLeR aNd NiGhTmArE aLrEaDy GoT mOrE eXp ThAn Us.”

Horror and Dust nods, Horror quickly opened a monster candy but left the other two unwrapped, giving it to Dust afterwards. Fumbling, he popped the open one in his mouth and quickly got the other two unwrapped as well, popping those two in.

The arm got together a bit nicely but when Dust went to move it, it hurt a little but that was ok, as long as he was ok.

Dust sighed, “It’s going to take a few days to heal, but I’ll be fine, I still have magic so I can help.”

“JuSt Be CaReFuL.” Error told Dust with worry.

“Don’t worry,” Dust salutes, “I’ll give ‘em hell before they give me hell!”

Horror laughs before dragging Dust up along with his trusty axe. Error looked at the two before giving the two a bye and lifted off into the sky again.

* * *

A tapping noise was the only thing that could be heard from the vast emptiness, and a source of colored light on the screens that could be seen floating around the lone figure.

A crazed static-y laughter echoed around the emptiness.

" _ AHAHAHAHAHA! Mine! He's  _ **_my_ ** _ tool. Mine. Mine.  _ **_MINE_ ** _." _

Red strings appeared out of nowhere, circling fast around the wide eyed laughing figure. As soon as the strings appear it soon glitches out of existence, and in the ‘Void’ the figure watches Error as he continues to make choices that were not meant for him.

“ _ You’ve better learn your place, _ ” The figure spoke by itself, insanity riddling it’s posture, “ _ Or something… Tragic will happen, hehe.” _

* * *

"That was fun!" Cross ran out of the portal content, and carried away an armful of chocolates.

Killer raised a non-existent brow at the large pile of chocolate,  "How did you even find the time to gather those, kiddo?"

"Same way how you found the time to loot the AU!" Cross smiled a bit smugly and then took off to hide his latest stash of sweets.

Killer wiped off a non-existent tear off of his eyes as he looked at the gang’s youngest and spoke in a whisper, “So proud.”

Nightmare chuckled, “You know he isn’t going to share that with you, right?”

“Of course!” Killer smiles and nods, before bringing his beloved and trusty red knife up close to his face, “If he doesn’t share with anyone, it’s his loss.”

Killer started to play around with his knife, dropping to the floor to stab the carpet and quickly running all over the place and stabbing everything (which includes a vase, but don’t worry, it’s not Nightmare’s favorite).

Sighing, Nightmare walked off, “Just like children.”

Killer looked up, “I’m a child?”

Too late, Nightmare already left. Killer thought for a moment, what behavior was childish? Thinking about this made him even more confused, despite not being able to feel anything. He just shrugs it off and continues on destroying many things with his knife.

Nightmare walked off into another room, it was just a random room full of so much chocolate. Staring at it Nightmare stood with a twitch in his eye.

“So this is where all the chocolate went,” Nightmare smiled aggressively, “Was this Cross? Probably is, Error knows better than letting Chocolate out in the open.”

He walks over to pick up a wrapped Chocolate, and hummed, wondering where in the world Cross would be right now. Taking a look, he noticed it was one of Error’s chocolate, this kid is insane.

“CROSS!” He took a deep breath before practically screaming, “GET YOUR ASS HERE RIGHT NOW!”

Despite the castle being big, everyone heard Nightmare. Cross froze, he was going to get punished for something, did Nightmare find out that he accidentally used all of their ingredients to make a lot of deserts and food with Horror?

Dust who was coincidentally walking by, heard the yell and winced before mocking, “Oooooh, you’re in trouble!”

Cross elbowed Dust, “Shut up!”

A gasp could be heard from Dust, “Did our little child just swear! I’m so proud!”

“AuughH!” Cross yelled in frustration.

“ **CROSS!** ” Nightmare shouted, “ **I’M NOT GOING TO WAIT FOR YOU!** ”

Cross stiffened, “I’M COMING!”

He quickly ran off and teleported, leaving Dust to snicker to himself about this.

When Cross found his way to Nightmare he abruptly stopped as he noticed Nightmare’s arms were folded together and he had a frown. Cross got quickly confused, they were nowhere near the Kitchen, did he do something wrong?

“Why did you stash the chocolate here?” Nightmare asked in a low tone.

What was he talking about--? Nightmare stepped beside and showed the room full of chocolate, and Cross looked at the chocolate in disbelief. If Cross knew one thing, he didn’t do that. 

(If he had known then he would have added this in his collection!)

“I didn’t do that.” Cross confidently said with a hint of confusion.

Nightmare raised a non-existent eyebrow, “Then who did?”

“Uhm..” Cross thought for a moment, “Error..?”

“Error would never leave his chocolate somewhere where anyone can find it,” Nightmare spoke, “Want to try again?”

Cross thought harder, and he was about to open his mouth but he was beaten by the punch, “Uhh.. I did..”

Nightmare turned and saw Horror peeking around the corner, “Horror?!”

For a moment, Cross was in surprise, he didn’t expect Horror to pop out of nowhere.

“Why were you hoarding the Chocolate?” Nightmare asked.

“I was going to..” Horror fidgets, “Uhm.. I wanted to give it to my bro.”

“These idiots.” Nightmare muttered before telling Horror, “Don’t hoard everything, just ask and we’ll go out… ‘Shopping’.”

Looking back at the room full of chocolate, Nightmare added, “Also, don’t do this again, Chocolate can melt, remember?”

Horror gasped, he forgot that chocolate can do that, “I’ll go put it away!”

He drove right into the room and quickly started to pick up chocolate and run out.

Nightmare does adore his boys, but sometimes their shenanigans would give him such a headache. Then again, all of them have their own issues and ways of coping from where they’re from, he couldn’t fault them for it.

All Nightmare could do was provide safety and relief in their little sanctuary.

* * *

After a long while, Error finally went out of the portal and into Nightmare’s Domain.

Deleting the AU took a long time, and making sure the things the gang had gathered from there wouldn’t vanish either. He’s extremely lucky that Ink didn't show up this time. That self proclaimed Creator might’ve been busy somewhere else which doesn’t necessarily quell any worries about the skeleton’s absence .

Thanks to the gang, despite how long it took for them to wipe out the population and to grab the human’s soul, Error didn’t have to be burdened with another hundreds of Monster’s deaths before the AU’s deletion.

Error sighed, he’s been a bit tired lately, probably from all the times he’s been mistreating himself. From what Nightmare and Blue said, these real scenarios were ‘Hyper Realistic Nightmares’, and he  _ never _ wants to have those ever again (Not like he’ll ever get a break from torture, even from his own dreams).

He  _ was _ feeling tired, maybe he could try and get some sleep today? Perhaps those Nightmare things only happened because he scarcely slept (And when he passed out, those Nightmares happened), he hasn’t even felt Ink create anything in a while. Which was still a bit concerning, but he’ll use it to take a break and go to bed for once.

Trudging inside the castle and somehow walked all the way to his room, ignoring the running Horror who has an assortment of chocolate in his hands. He actually made his way to the untouched sheets and went to sleep on top of them.

* * *

“ _ Tch, _ ” The tapping noise was once again heard and you could practically hear the figure’s frown, “ _ He thinks he can just sleep soundly, his job is unfulfilled and yet he doesn’t know it. _ ”

Looking through the bright screens, the figure looms over it, watching Error’s sleeping form. A thought came through it’s head as they remembered the events and actions Error and Nightmare’s Gang made in the AU.

“ _ Hmm… _ ” The figure thought for a moment, before a brilliant and horrible idea came to fruition, it’s frown turning back to a grin, “ _ Sweet dreams, Error. _ ”

* * *

Error opened his eyes, how long did he sleep? It didn’t feel like he slept long, under his blankets (Weird, maybe he stared up, studying the dark ceiling before he got up and lifted the blankets to the side.

He was in Nightmare’s Castle, in his room that Nightmare gave him. It was strange, Error would always hear noise at least sometimes, if not, all the time. It was rarely quiet and when it was, it would be strange and unlike them.

Maybe they went to go ahead and raid another AU? No, that wouldn’t make sense, they would need him to help out.

Strangely enough, it kept on being quiet. He got up and walked over to his door, it was closed as well. The shade of the room made it hard to see but he didn’t reach to grab for his glasses, instead he reached to where he thought the doorknob was and slowly opened the door.

The light hit the room brightly, and he squinted while he adjusted to the new lighting. He blinked a few times before he saw the hallway outside of his room a little less blurrily.

The carpet looked oddly different and so did so many things. Confused, he walked out and looked around.

After a moment in confusion he started to glitch, it didn’t help him at all. While glitching he didn’t notice himself fading to white and black repeatedly. Error blinked again and looked around noticing how ripped the carpet and hallway near his room was trashed.

“.. FuNnY.” Error tried to keep his cool, they were probably getting in trouble for trashing the place.

He wondered where they’ll be, perhaps Nightmare decided an extra training session? No that’d be a fun workout for them, maybe they had to clean the entire house and that’s why it’s so quiet.. That made even less sense, they wouldn’t ignore the mess in front of his room if they knew he was sleeping. He continued walking and glitching he noticed the hall was becoming more damaged.

A sinking feeling made its way down his non-existent guts, he nervously looked around in distress, no peaceful explanation made in his mind sounded correct. He started to run, but now of his starting fear his glitching started to grow and slowed him down a lot more as he tried.

“Nightmare?!” Error called out, “CrOsS! hOrRoR!!”

Fear clouded his voice and eyes as he ran around the castle, every inch of the castle looked even more destroyed than where he first walked out, even walls were wrecked and destroyed.

Remembering what he thought before going to bed he started to overthink, did Ink do this? Did Ink find out where Nightmare was hiding everyone? Did Ink follow them instead of fighting?

No! That is highly unlikely! Error helped Nightmare hide this place even more than it already was, even if Ink found it, it’d probably be inaccessible like the void… Did they abandon him? No, no, no! They wouldn’t!

They’re just doing something, they’ll come back and get in trouble and then.. Error started to ferociously glitched, hugging himself as he felt himself pause and unpause from glitching. He had started breathing faster from the moment his thinking started turning darker, and now he was hyperventilating.

They left just like Nightmare did, they never meant any of what they said, and the time they spent together was fake. Fake!

He shrunk to the floor, sitting in a fetal position and hands to his head, he glitched even harder, not even noticing his hands switching black and white. He couldn’t breathe properly yet he wanted to get out of the place, getting up he tried to run out of the Domain, but everytime he tried to leave he would end up in the hallway outside of where he woke up.

No way out, he went inside of the room and the silent thoughts started to speak without his permission, he started thinking about what they were doing, what they would do if they found him there, if they would even come back.

He thought they were actually friends, were they just pretending, doing all of that to leave him? Tears started to prick and he tried to get these thoughts out of his mind, it wouldn’t stop.

These thoughts were too much for him, he didn’t want to think anymore, he didn’t want it, so he started yelling, humming and just tried. He was too focused on making noise but he could still think.

He stopped glitching for a moment, making him stop screaming. He was under the blankets so he kicked them off and started to mutter again, trying to calm down, but it didn’t work. Tears started to come again and he was getting barrages of more thoughts.

He started breathing harder and his mutters started raising to yelling, screaming and then trying to reassure himself with little lies.

“I’m Ok, I’m Ok, ThEy’Ll Be BaCk, ThEy WiLl.. **WON’T THEY?!** ”

* * *

Nightmare looks up from the paperwork in his hands, frowning slightly.

**A nightmare? But who would-**

Nightmare’s eye widens as he feels the aura of the dreamer in question, out of his chair and leaving the room in a hurry, whispered profanities stringing together into sentences.

He slammed open Error’s bedroom door, and rushed over to the form of the sleeping skeleton, muttering under his breath, “Wake up, c’mon Error, wake up, you’re just having a nightmare.”

Nightmare’s tentacles curl around Error, trying to bring the sleeping glitch to consciousness without scaring him too bad. It seemed to work as Error slowly flutters his gaze open, looking at Nightmare with unfocused eyelights, tears forming slightly.

“NiGhTmArE…?” Error recalled the blurry tentacles in front of him, “W-wHeRe’S tHe GaNg? ThEy LeFt Me… RiGhT? lIkE-LiKe yOu WiLl?”

Nightmare cursed under his breath at the Hyper Realistic Dream Error just had, from what Error was saying, it seemed that somehow they had abandoned him, did they say harsh words? Or did something else transpire?

Schooling his features, he smiled at Error and reassured him, “They didn’t leave you Error, I promise. You just had another nightmare.”

“BuT… sHoUlDn’T mY hYpEr ReAlIsTiC nIgHtMaReS oNlY sHoW uP iN tHe AnTi-VoId?” Nightmare furrows his brow, slowly pulling the still slightly unfocused skeleton closer.

“I’m not sure,” Error turns his gaze away as Nightmare speaks, Nightmare’s soul twisting painfully’ “but I do know you were knee-deep in a horrible nightmare. Everyone is still here, none of them would ever leave you, and neither would I.”

**He doesn’t believe me, why would he? He was just having intense and realistic nightmares poking at his deepest insecurities. I wouldn’t believe myself either in his situation.**

“How about you, me, and the gang just watch some Undernovela for a while, and we all chill in a cuddle pile? Does that sound…” Nightmare groans softly, before flashing a classic Sans grin “... **apple** aling?”

Error pauses for a moment, before releasing a snort, “ThAt WaS bAd.”

“I know.” Nightmare nodded in agreement, picking up the glitching skeleton, “Do you want to take my offer, pun notwithstanding?”

“HmMm…” Error hums softly in thought, before slowly nodding “SuRe. MaYbE iF i FaLl AsLeEp WiTh YoU gUyS, tHe NiGhTmArE wOn’T sEeM aS rEaL tO mE.”

Nightmare nodded again, smiling gently as he carried Error into the living room, the gang all chilling there already. As he walked in, everyone’s attention ceased on whatever they were doing and to the two dark skeletons in curiosity.

“Boss?” Cross’ question drifts in the air, causing the whole gang to look at Nightmare and Error.

“We are going to marathon Undernovela, and cuddle, and eat…” Nightmare makes a show of shuddering in ‘disgust’ at the thought, “ **Chocolate.** ”

Error and Cross released soft chuckles with Horror grinning a little bit wider, Dust yawns, and Killer just flips his knife up and around, shrugging. Nightmare sets Error onto the couch, getting comfy and wrapped his tentacles around the gang protectively.

Error opens a small viewing portal in front of the TV, playing Undernovela.

Cross focuses on what the show was saying and frowned at the character’s spanish words.

“I dunno if you all understand spanish or not, but this episode is about one of the characters, Frisk I think, dealing with nightmares of the more…”  _ Hyper Realistic Kind. _ Cross trailed off before saying the word, but Nightmare catches what he means.

Error, however, shrugs, “DoN’t KnOw A lIcK oF sPaNiSh. I jUsT fInD iT fUnNy To WaTcH.” 

(In the background, Killer laughed and commented ‘no habla español’)

The gang settled down. Who knows, this might be a good way to show Error that no matter how the nightmare seems real it would always stay as a nightmare. Just a bad dream. That Nightmare and his boys would always be there for Error. 

“Cross! Don’t you dare coat the popcorn with chocolate!” Dust yelled at Cross, noticing his hands holding Chocolate on top of the Popcorn.

“Too late!” Cross shouted in glee.

“sHuT uP!” Error yelled at the two having a shouting contest, “ThE sHoW iS StaRtINg!”

_ “¡Nosotros necesitamos un doctor!” Toriel exclaimed, hugging her scared child. _

More gibberish words, or so how everyone except Cross and Nightmare heard it, was said. Error was sparkling as he watched the dramatic scenes, Killer was just there trying to annoy Dust as they both watched the show as well, and in the corner, Horror was hoarding chocolate and eating popcorn.

Nightmare thought about what the Undernovela Toriel said, Maybe… he might need to consult the psychology books that had been left in the corner of his personal library. The last time he read those old things were when Cross had first joined them. Their youngest used to have panic attacks when he was left alone for more than five minutes.

Trial and error was made, but Cross has had enough time to adjust. The others had gotten used to not leaving Cross alone for long periods of time. It seems they are treating Cross like how they would treat their own Papyrus.

Nightmare was lost in thought, that he had missed the doctor’s appointment, but from continuing to watching the show, he learnt he hadn’t missed a lot. He probably just missed some small comedy and information about Frisk’s bad dreams.

_ Frisk was at home with Toriel, they looked like they were troubled with something but didn’t go to Toriel who was in the kitchen baking pie. They looked around, and spotted some toys to play with, getting distracted, they ran over to the toys. _

Nightmare looked at the scene in boredom, nothing was happening yet, but Error still seemed entranced.

_ Frisk started mumbling little words and grabbed a figurine and a weird doll. They played around until a flash and a small clip of the mustached child watching Papiro turned to dust. Once the clip stopped playing, the child dropped their toys and their face depicted unease at what seemed to be a thought. _

The clip playing made everyone’s interest back on the screen, Dust was speechless and Killer had a neutral face at what they both saw. Horror stopped eating popcorn in shock at the sudden scene and Cross was spooked as he knew what happened; Nightmare just looked at it as if it was normal until he felt the extra negativity stirring around from everyone except Error.

_ They frowned as they started to remember the nightmare, the screen faded to another clip, everyone was having a good time, even Asgoro and Sin (Despite them both sitting next to each other), Frisk was sitting at the table and Toriel was setting it with Pies and Sweets. _

_ Someone was knocking at the door, and Toriel rushed over to open the door. When the door was opened, Toriel was pushed to the ground and Frisk was alarmed. Sin and Asgoro both looked shocked and tried to get over to Toriel until this dark figure pointed a gun at her. _

This caused Error to gasp and get angry, yelling at the screen, “Asgoro! Sin! Go attack that thing!!”

_ They both stopped and looked in fear along with Frisk and everyone else. _

_ They made Toriel stand up and they both walked back inside, after a few minutes Sin was fidgeting and quickly swiped out a gun and shot the figure, teleporting and trying to kick their hold on Toriel. _

Error looked up in hopes of Sin being able to stop the black figure.

_ Instead of letting go, they shot the gun twice and Toriel almost immediately dusted, Asgoro went in shock at witnessing his wife’s murder and everyone else got on their feet. Undyna whisked out guns and proceeded to aim at the figure. _

Error processed this quickly and his face was a look of disbelief, he must have forgotten it was a dream. Nightmare studied Error’s behavior silently, was he starting to forget these things visually?

_ Sin was behind the figure’s body from Undyna’s point of view and she was able to hit them, but it went through and hit Sin instead! Undyna almost dropped her gun when she noticed Sin was bleeding, and Papiro held a hand to his mouth. _

_ Sin dropped his gun and looked at the black figure with anger as he dusted too, Papiro snapped out of his shock and acquired a kitchen knife. Frisk in these fast moments could only watch and sunk under the table in fear. _

Error wasn’t even saying anything, he just stopped and watched it, along with everyone else. This was pretty much normal, seeing as Dust and Killer (Plus Killer has no emotions) came from genocide routes and have died multiple times and Horror has seen so many deaths to count.

_ The screen faded back to Frisk with their figurines, tears pricking at their eyes for a minute, they slapped their face in an attempt to stop remembering and it worked slightly. _

Error seemed to relax, glad that the nightmare was just that; a nightmare. Some of the spastic glitches that had kicked up during the clip of the nightmare finally evaporate or calm down causing Nightmare to sigh a relief.

_ Frisk frowns again, the screen fading into a room recognized as their bedroom. Frisk gets to their feet, slowly leaving their room and looking around, calling for Toriel, Sin, anyone really. _

Error’s face looked out a bit in sympathy and shock as he started to recall his own ‘nightmare’ from before. Nightmare watched Error’s expression, and looked back at the screen.

**So that’s what your nightmare was about, wasn’t it?**

Nightmare tilts his head as he feels a suppressed feeling of panic coming from the other side of the couch, turning his gaze to see the youngest, Cross, trembling slightly at the nightmare in question.

“Maybe we should cut this episode off…” Nightmare mutters softly, catching everyone’s attention.

Dust, Horror, and Killer looked at Nightmare as he spoke and then noticed that both Error and Cross looked panicked.

“N-No, It’S fInE. tHeSe ArE jUsT dRaMaTiZeD cLiPs..” Error’s voice wavered slightly in a small panic, making Nightmare narrowed his gaze at the tone, “ThErE’s No WaY aNyOnE aCtUaLlY hA-hAs ThOsE kInDs Of NiGhTmArEs.”

**Playing tough, huh? Don’t want the others to think less of you?** Nightmare huffs under his breath.  **No, you don’t care what other people think...Why are you holding back and hiding your issues from us?**

Nightmare sighs softly. “Error, you may be unaffected, but that last nightmare clip has reminded Cross of some negative things, and I’d rather our youngest member not go into a panic attack today.” Error flicks his gaze to Cross, the youngest trembling and trying to hide the purple tears running down his cheekbones, a hesitant smile on his face.

“I-i’m fine, I-I swear!” Cross tried to reassure them, and Horror softly nuzzled Cross, startling the slightly panicked skeleton.

“You aren’t fine, Cross.” Nightmare told Cross, “It’s okay to say you’re uncomfortable and that you can’t handle something; so please don’t ever ignore your own discomfort.”

Cross slowly passed his gaze between Error and Nightmare, mumbling softly, smiling at his thoughts.

“CrOsS?” Error calls softly to the youngest.

“Okay Dadmare and Mama Error.” Cross’ face is covered in a soft purple blush as he mutters slightly louder, keeping his gaze off of the two mentioned.

Cross’s words have an instant effect on the room, Horror and Dust both flushing slightly and shifting in anticipation  while Killer tilted and followed by grinning . Nightmare’s tentacles release an audible snap in the air, the owner of said appendages blushing a bright cyan.

Error’s jaw completely drops open, his gaze widening as he looks at the youngest of the group, blue tears welling up in Error’s sockets, “YoU mEaN tHaT?”

Cross lifts his eye sockets, matching Error’s curious and confused gaze, “W-what?”

“YoU mEaN iT? yOu ThInK oF mE aS yOuR mOtHeR?” Cross slowly nods, his blush lighting up brighter.

“W-well, of course! Y-you never get mad at me for being ‘young’. Y-you always share chocolate with me. W-why wouldn’t I think of you as m-my mom?” Error is dead silent, Nightmare tilting his head in curiosity.

**Speechless? Out of the whole gang, the two that are the hardest to make speechless are Killer and Error in that order. How curious.**

“Oh.” That’s all Error uses to respond to Cross.

Killer’s grin widens at a thought as he thoughtfully taps his blade against his chin, “Ey Crossy...does that mean you ship Error and Nightmare together?”

“T-that’s n-not what I-I meant, and y-you know it!” Cross practically stumbles over himself to defend Error and Nightmare.

Nightmare just watched with faint amusement, chuckling a little, as Killer started to bully and tease Cross.

**My boys. Able to take a very serious thing and make it so very hilarious.**

Error’s blush has extended down to his shoulders, the glitchy skeleton fizzling more at the implications of Killer and Cross’s words.

“Hehe,” Killer chuckled forcibly with a grin, “Cross ships Error and Nightmare~!”

Cross’s face was exploding in color from the teasing, “S-Stop Killer!”

“Neverrrr~!” Killer practically sang.

His face was just glowing in embarrassment and he hid himself with his hands, “You’re a bully!”

“Ha! I know that!” Killer proudly said.

“Ahem,” Nightmare raised his non-existent eyebrow, a faint blush from shipping, “Let’s stop before one of us explodes, shall we?”

Killer looked at Nightmare and shut his mouth, smiling made the effect creepy. Cross stopped hiding his face, his blush receded after a few moments and noticed that Error’s face was also glowing from what Killer was teasing about.

Error shook his blush away, and went near Horror to grab some popcorn, moving away from where Cross, Killer and Nightmare was. Horror smiled at Error and then gave him the popcorn, Error smiled back and took the popcorn sitting next to Horror as he did so.

Horror’s attention was at the three, and so was Error’s. He laughed at their antics, Cross was always getting bullied and teased for a lot of the things he does.

Error’s vision became more blurry, whoops, where did he last place his glasses? He sighed, he’ll just have to look for it later, his eye sockets getting heavier for no reason, it was as if it was trying to tickle him and he doesn’t know how that works.

He blinked, Horror had gotten up and so did Dust, they were now with Cross, Killer and Nightmare, but why? Horror was just right next to him a minute ago.

Error got up and as he did so, Horror was alerted and turned to Error with a glare. Flinching he looked around confused, what just happened? Trying to ignore Horror’s glare, he saw that Cross was crying and having a panic attack. The Undernovela Show was still playing and the place was pure empty white and Frisk was trying so hard to leave.

Error started to Glitch in panic, an old memory arose from the reminder, and soon after he started to glitch from white and black again. This time his clothes were also turning into a shade of blue.

Nightmare glared at Error, “Look at what you did, you made Cross cry!”

“HuH?” Error was so confused, he swore he had dispersed the show, did he not?

Dust looked angry, and Killer followed what Nightmare seemed to glare and yell at, it was Error. Both looked as if they were about to attack, Killer was indifferent while Dust was quite enraged at what Error seemed to have done.

Error was unguarded, he didn’t want to attack, but after a moment, Killer threw bones at him, Error barely dodged and parts of his weirdly blue-blackish colored clothes were now ripped.

Error looked at his clothes in shock, not noticing the blue hue, and looked back at Killer with wide eyes. Killer followed through with a maniac grin and summoned more bones along with Dust who were now throwing bones at him.

Killer was equipped with his Knife, staring at Error, looking for a point to get a hit in. Error was dodging all of the bones and was too distracted to notice that Killer was about to jump in and slash at him.

At the last minute, Killer jumped in and got Error in the chest making him scream in glitched panic. His eyesight faded to Glitched Error signs and he summoned a Gaster Blaster and without thought, he shot it without point.

“ERROR!” Nightmare yelled, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Error snapped awake, he felt Nightmare was touching him and he got up with a hard glitch from contact.

“Error!” Nightmare demanded with his name.

Looking around he noticed how much of a mess the room was now, Dust and Killer was huddling near Horror and Cross who both looked very injured.

Error flinched and he curled on himself, “I…”

Nightmare sighed and put a hand to his forehead, “Was it a nightmare?”

“I.. i DoN’t..” Error struggled to find words, it was way too realistic to be a nightmare this time, they must be acting.

“Error.” Nightmare said softer than before, “What happened?”

“DoN’t AcT lIkE iT hAsN’t HaPpEnEd!” Error yelled in the shock silent room, “YoU aLrEaDy KnOw! If YoU wAnTeD mE gOnE sO bAdLy, I  wOuLd HaVe LeFt If YoU hAdN’t CoNvInCeD mE tO sTaY!”

Error got up and left to his room, leaving to probably pack up, and Nightmare was sitting where he had tackled Error from stopping him to use more magic. He was a bit shocked, but now he was more determined than before to find out what the hell he needs to do to stop these Hyper Realistic Nightmares.

Nightmare got up and he ordered Dust and Killer, “Go heal Horror and Cross to the best of your abilities, and grab some healing items while you’re at it.”

Dust and Killer looked at each other with troubled looks before Dust got up to go get Healing Items while Killer did his best to heal both Horror and Cross.

Nightmare took a deep breath, what does he need to do? First he needs to confront Error again, and maybe get that book soon, this has never happened and it’s already becoming a hazard.

Error sits in his room, his strings packing up his small amount of belongings as tears well in his sockets. He shakes his head, dispelling the tears quickly.

“It’S bEtTeR iF i StAy In ThE aNtI-vOiD. tHeY wOuLd JuSt BeTrAy Me Or AbAnDoN mE.”

“Then why do you seem so upset at the thought of leaving?” Error turns his gaze to the entrance of the room with enough force to send whiplash down his spine, noticing the goop monster leaning on the frame.

“DoN’t PrEtEnD tO cArE, pLeAsE. tHaT mAkEs ThIs HaRdEr.” Nightmare shifts his gaze, a slight frown as he looks over the strings, shivers running through Error’s fingers as he can literally  **feel** Nightmare’s gaze.

“I’m not pretending, Error. I’m worried about you.” Nightmare told Error, “I know you had a nightmare, but I don’t know what it was about. All I know is that we were all chilling when your sleeping body got to its feet, dodged around for a minute, and then summoned the blaster that unfortunately got Cross and Horror in the blast.”

Error blinks away more tears, moving his gaze away from Nightmare, “BuLlShIt. I kNoW yOu CaN iNvAdE nIgHtMaReS aNd DrEaMs.”

A soft sigh, then footsteps before Nightmare’s weight sinks the bed, the goopy monster thankfully not touching the glitchy one. A few moments of silence dragged as both skeletons said nothing.

Nightmare looked up and spoke, “I’ve never invaded a dream or nightmare without permission from the originator of said dream. I respect you all far too much to ever force myself into such a private affair.”

Nightmare paused, a tentacle coming down in the peripheral vision of Error. He didn’t even tell his body what to do, it automatically when he saw that tentacle swinging towards him. Nightmare’s tentacle halts, all motion freezing from the goopy skeleton.

“You’re afraid of me. You’re afraid of me hurting you.” Nightmare wasn’t asking, he was stating a fact.

Error keeps his gaze away from the goopy king, expecting him to  **finally** throw him out for showing a weakness. Instead, the tentacles droop, laying limply around Error and Nightmare.

“I’m sorry.” The words were barely whispered, but those two words snapped Error’s gaze to Nightmare, eye sockets widening in surprise.

“WhY aRe YoU aPoLoGiZiNg?”

Nightmare smiles sadly at Error’s question, turning his cyan eyelight over to his tentacles, “I can only assume I’ve done something to hurt you for you to flinch like that. Unless you tell me what’s wrong and what’s happening, I can’t help you. None of us can.”

Error raised a hand to his chest, feeling something like pain but… It didn’t really hurt. It’s scary, and he’s not sure what it means, but he… doesn’t want to keep Nightmare out of the loop anymore.

Error shakes his head, raising his other hand to his skull, clenching the hand on his skull into a fist, tears sliding down his cheekbones.

“I-I cAn’T.” Error stuttered out, he truly didn’t believe Nightmare, “I-I cAn’T tRuSt ThAt YoU wOn’T uSe ThAt InFo To HuRt Me.”

Error didn’t notice the tentacles slowly encasing him, or Nightmare gently pulling his rapidly glitching body against a cool chest. All he notices is the glitches on his hands, which are visibly shifting from black to white.

Error felt more tears in his eyes as he spoke, his hands shaking, “N-NiGhTmArE...w-wHaT’s H-HaPpEnInG tO mE?!”

“I don’t know,” Nightmare’s soft voice rumbles beside Error’s skull, “but please calm down., Breathe with me.”

Error is finally aware of the deep and slow breathing behind him and begins to shakily follow that breathing pattern, following Nightmare’s voice.

“That’s it…” A soft rumble beside Error’s skull again.

“Just breathe with me.” A breathy whisper as Error slowly calms down, breathing in time with Nightmare.

“HoW...dO yOu KnOw HoW tO cAlM dOwN a PaNiC aTtAcK?” 

Nightmare sends a glance to Error with something to the effect of ‘Really?’ before muttering softly “Cross.”

“Oh.” A nervous mumble leaves the glitchy one’s mouth.

“WiLl YoU…?”

“Let you go?,” Nightmare finished the question, and he answered back, “Not a chance until we figure out what the hell is happening to you and how to stop it.”

Error frowned and countered with, “BuT i HaVe A jOb To Do…”

“I will chain you to the bed if you even think about trying to destroy AUs in this state.” Nightmare chastises the skeleton, “You are one slip and slide away from losing your sanity and murderhoboing half the multiverse, and you know it.”

Error looked at Nightmare, whose face is flushed with cyan, but otherwise, looking extremely serious.

“YoU cAn’T kEeP mE fOrEvEr.”

“No, but I can try.”

“ _ Perhaps I can be of service. _ ” Both skeletons looked out towards the door of the room, as Nightmare’s tentacles had slowly been moving away from Error during their conversation, to see a tall and goopy skeleton with two crack like scars, the two had never seen this skeleton before.

“ **WhO tHe FuCk ArE yOu?** ” Error and Nightmare’s voices called out in unison.

The newcomer simply aimed a stoic and warm smile at the two dark skeletons, saying nothing more for the time being.


End file.
